Gregory C Ira

Director, UC Environmental Stewards Statewide Program

Greg Ira
2801 Second Street
184
Davis, CA 95618
(530) 750-1265
gcira@ucanr.edu

http://calnat.ucanr.edu/

Also in:
STATEWIDE PROGRAMS & REC OPS

Links

• UC California Naturalist Program
• UC California Naturalist Program Newsletter
• UC California Naturalist YouTube Channel
• UC California Naturalist Program Partner Map

Biography

Greg is the Director of UC Environmental Stewards, a statewide program within the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Greg provides programmatic and operational leadership to this collective impact network involving over 65 community-based partner organizations and over 8,000 course alumni. Through this collaboration, our partners deliver two UC-branded, adult, education and service courses: 1) California Naturalist and/or 2) Climate Stewards. The program currently certifies over 1,000 participants each year who go on to provide an average of 35,000 hours of volunteers service in support of local environmental stewardship. Greg's interests include inquiry-based instruction, cultural competency in environmental education, participatory and community science, and innovative approaches to achieving collective impact through social franchising and communities of practice. Prior to joining UC ANR, Greg was the Director of the Office of Environmental Education in the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Director of the Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture program at the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction. Greg is a member of the California Naturalist and Environmental Education Workgroups and the Climate Change Program Team.

Education

M.A. Asian Studies, University of Hawaii. 1992

B.A. Environmental Studies, Prescott College. 1987

Awards

• Outstanding Evaluation Program Presented by Alliance of Natural Resource Outreach and Service Professionals,
  Presented by Alliance of Natural Resource Outreach and Service Professionals,  https://anrosp.wildapricot.org/National-Conference,  2018
• Outstanding Team
  Presented by Alliance of Natural Resource Outreach and Service Professionals,  https://anrosp.wildapricot.org/News/4035641,  2017

Specialty

Areas of Expertise (click to see all ANR academics with this expertise)

• Communication, Education, and Information Delivery
• Conservation and Efficient Use of Water
• Watershed Protection and Management
• Natural Resources, General
• Conservation of Biological Diversity
• Climate Change
• Responding To Climate Change
• Natural Resources
• Water
• Wildlife
• Sustainable Natural Ecosystems
• Water Quality, Quantity, and Security
• Science Literacy in Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Nutrition

Bibliography

Peer Reviewed

• Nelson S-M, Ira G, Merenlender AM. Adult Climate Change Education Advances Learning, Self-Efficacy, and Agency for Community-Scale Stewardship. Sustainability. 2022; 14(3):1804. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031804

• Gerhart, LM, Jadallah, CC, Angulo, SS, Ira, GC. Teaching an experiential field course via online participatory science projects: A COVID-19 case study of a UC California Naturalist course. Ecol Evol. 2021; 11: 3537– 3550. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7187

Non-Peer Reviewed

• Ira, Gregory; Doyle, Helen (2023). A match made in stewardship: California Naturalists and UC Natural Reserves. UC Natural Reserve System Newsletter. July 5, 2023.
• Ira, Gregory (2022). Ten Strands Blog. July 7, 2022. https://tenstrands.org/author/gregory-ira/

• Nelson, Sarah-Mae; Ira, Greg (2020). UC Climate Stewards Course. A. Merenlender and K. Meadows, eds. September 30, 2020. 

• Drill, Sabrina; Meyer, Ryan; Ballard, Heidi; Angulo, Sarah; Ira, Greg (2018). Supporting Community and Citizen Science: UC Agriculture and Natural Resources and California Naturalist. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Alliance of Natural Resource Outreach and Service Programs. 13. 9/13/2018. https://anrosp.wildapricot.org/resources/Documents/ANROSP%202018%20Agenda%20-%20DRAFT.pdf

• Drill, Sabrina; Adina, Merenlender.; Gamble, Brook; Foreman, Shayna; Ira, Greg; Raleigh, Carrie; Rodriguez, Marisa (2017). UC California Naturalist Instructor Training Manual. UC California Naturalist. 107.

ANR Workgroup Associations

• California Naturalist - Chair
• Career/College Readiness & Workforce Development - Member
• Disaster Preparedness and Response - Member
• Environmental Education - Member
• Water and Environmental Justice - Member

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